Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have identified a new way to block the action of genetic mutations found in nearly 30 percent of all cancers. Mutations in genes for the RAS family of proteins are present in nearly 90 percent of pancreatic cancers and are also highly prevalent in colon cancer, lung cancer and melanoma, the most dangerous kind of skin cancer.

The number of deaths from pancreatic cancer will overtake breast cancer mortality rates in the EU in 2017, a study has found. The findings, recently presented at UEG Week 2016, mean that pancreatic cancer will become the third leading cause of death from cancer in the EU behind lung and colorectal cancer. Pancreatic cancer mortality rates are increasing in many countries across the EU and it is estimated that 91,500 deaths will occur from the disease next year, compared with 91,000 from breast cancer.

Over the past few decades, many bacteria have become resistant to existing antibiotics, and few new drugs have emerged. A recent study from a U.K. commission on antimicrobial resistance estimated that by 2050, antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections will kill 10 million people per year, if no new drugs are developed.

Low and very high levels of HDL, or "good cholesterol" are associated with a higher risk of dying from heart disease, cancer and other causes, according to a study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The findings from the first of its kind study suggest that a low level of good cholesterol may not be a heart disease risk factor on its own and that raising HDL does not likely reduce a person's risk of heart disease.

Our Facebook status updates, 'likes' and even photos could help researchers better understand mental health disorders with the right ethical safeguards, argue researchers from the University of Cambridge, who suggest that social networks may even be used in future to provide support and interventions, particularly among young people.

A new compound, discovered jointly by international pharmaceutical company Servier, headquartered in France, and Vernalis (R&D), a company based in the UK, has been shown by researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and Servier to block a protein that is essential for the sustained growth of up to a quarter of all cancers.

Anti-inflammatory drugs similar to those used to treat conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis could in future be used to treat some cases of depression, concludes a review led by the University of Cambridge, which further implicates our immune system in mental health disorders. Researchers from the Department of Psychiatry at Cambridge led a team that analysed data from 20 clinical trials involving the use of anti-cytokine drugs to treat a range of autoimmune inflammatory diseases.